Reaching the unreached :

The Government has doubled the credit availability to the agriculture sectors in 2005-06 keeping 2004-05 as a base. NABARD and the banking and financial institutions have to work together to find hassle-free methods of providing micro credit and micro investment to the needy farmers so that they are weaned away from the clutches of elements who exploit them. Simultaneously, agricultural researchers, extension workers from academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and the industry should work closely with the farmers and enable them to increase the productivity, storage, food processing and marketing. In addition, they should facilitate the farmers to undertake non-farm tasks on the lines of one product per village cluster scheme to promote export of products based on the core-competence of the village for increasing the sustainability of the rural sector as a whole.

The Insurance companies have to come forward with micro insurance, crop insurance and cattle insurance, apart from low cost medical insurance for providing risk cover to the farmers. Similarly, units like mobile diagnostic clinics as in Uttarakhand may be operated in all the districts to reach Medicare to the unreached. Recently, I have come across a number of initiatives by our judicial systems at various levels for fast delivery of justice such as legal aid clinics, mediation and conciliation, mobile court and lok-adalat and increasing the number of days and number of hours of working per day. These initiatives can be reinforced by having mobile courts reaching the village to deliver justice at the doorstep of the rural citizens. Corporate sector may also think of reaching the unreached as an essential component of Corporate Social Responsibility. In a world dominated by communication, extending the communication from the privileged to include the connectivity to the unreached should be part of our technological upheaval.

Feedback of Services :

Though India is known to be one of the best destinations for outsourcing of many of the service and knowledge products, within our society we are yet to grow to appreciate and pay for the services. However, developed nations are gauged by the quality of service the citizens get from the government and from the corporate with which they do business. One mechanism by which we can continuously increase the quality of service is through feedback. This should be done by everyone without fear or bias. This feedback will enable all service providers to constantly improve the quality of service irrespective of what the service is. We will see a substantial increase in the services such as electricity, water, telephone, gas, transportation, education, insurance, banking, legal and police. The service providers whether they are in Government or in private sector have to take the feedback in the right spirit and provide customer satisfaction both in the short-term and in the long-term. Customers should also acknowledge positive developments and celebrate improvements. This scenario should lead to the pride of service and competitiveness.

Websites and Portals have all along been the best source for receiving feedback from the public, apart from meeting the people directly. I have been visiting the Government websites of many agencies. If the website does not provide the latest information its utility diminishes and loses the purpose for which the government department’s websites were created. It is necessary that these websites are constantly updated so that they provide the latest information and opportunities for feedback.

The website may also be used to provide the information on the action taken about a particular suggestion. It is essential that service providing organization create a user forum and meet them regularly for proactively improving the quality of service through a monitoring mechanism. Government officers should make use of the e-governance portal and e-mail to stay continuously connected with the people and take necessary actions. The recent step of the government to introduce Right To Information Act is a positive step towards transparency in the governance.